Book of Night Quotes

“I am a good enough thief to steal a shadow from a tower," she told him. "I can steal back your heart.”
― Holly Black, Book of Night

“Revenge on everybody. That would fill her time. That would keep her busy. Keep her from feeling her feelings.
If she couldn't be responsible or careful or good or loved, if she was doomed to be a lit match, then Charlie might as well go back to finding stuff to burn.”
― Holly Black, Book of Night

“I wish I could say I was sorry, that I wanted to be honest the whole time, but I didn't. I never wanted to be honest. I just wanted what I told you to be the truth.”
― Holly Black, Book of Night

“Love was a family religion, passed down to her when she'd been too young to protect herself from belief.”
― Holly Black, Book of Night

“It takes bravery to be an adventurer,” Odette said, lifting her drink and walking away. “And what better adventure than the discovery of our true selves?”
― Holly Black, Book of Night

“sometimes knowing someone for a long time seemed more important than liking them.”
― Holly Black, Book of Night

“What makes you feel safe when you go to sleep at night? Being able to check and see that your secrets are still hidden.”
― Holly Black, Book of Night

“There'd always been something wrong with Charlie Hall. Crooked, from the day she was born. Never met a bad decision she wasn't willing to double down on. Had fingers made for picking pockets, a tongue for lying, and a shriveled cherry pit for a heart. If her shadow had been one of those magic ones, she was pretty sure even that thing would have run away.”
― Holly Black, Book of Night

“Never met a bad decision she wasn’t willing to double down on. Had fingers made for picking pockets, a tongue for lying, and a shriveled cherry pit for a heart.”
― Holly Black, Book of Night

“The universe belongs to the curious.”
― Holly Black, Book of Night

“She was a poisoned well of a girl.”
― Holly Black, Book of Night

“But first, blot out a few more sparks. Drown a few more stars.”
― Holly Black, Book of Night

“loss sings to loss”
― Holly Black, Book of Night

“With no good ideas, she was going to go for the bad one.”
― Holly Black, Book of Night

“I always liked you. I should have said something, but I’m not a good person. I’m not even sure I’m a person at all.”
“Oh.” Surprised, Charlie took his hand and folded her fingers through his. They were surprisingly solid. “You’re a person. You’re my person.”
He bent down to bring their clasped hands to his lips.”
― Holly Black, Book of Night

“And then I had to learn how to be a person all the time. I tried to be, for you.”
― Holly Black, Book of Night

“She waited. Sometimes silence kept people talking. Sometimes if they talked enough, they wouldn’t notice when you didn’t.”
― Holly Black, Book of Night

“Hole in the head, hole in the heart, or hole in the pocket. The Hall family curse.”
― Holly Black, Book of Night

“Charlie Hall, at her best when doing her worst. Whenever she tried to create something, it broke apart in her hands. But blow something up? There, Charlie had an unerring instinct for greatness.”
― Holly Black, Book of Night

“Okay kid," she told it. "The universe belongs to the curious.”
― Holly Black, Book of Night

“One is this: without the means to pay experts, it’s necessary to evolve a complex ecosystem of useful amateurs.”
― Holly Black, Book of Night

“Everyone loves the guy who brings ice.”
― Holly Black, Book of Night

“With no ideas, she was going for the bad one.
They better carve that into her tomb. The Charlie Hall credo.”
― Holly Black, Book of Night

“Psychics were therapists for people who couldn't admit they needed therapy. They were magic for people who desperately needed a little magic, back before magic was real”
― Holly Black, Book of Night

“It’s not what you think,” Vince said from the mouth of the hall. He didn’t turn, so she couldn’t even try to interpret his expression. The humor had left his voice, though.
“Oh, yeah?” she called after him. “Then why are you leaving?”
“Because it’s worse.”
― Holly Black, Book of Night

“Then he kissed her as though he had never thought to do so again, hands cradling the back of her head, fingers in her hair. For a moment, there was only the sensation of lips and teeth and tongue. Of skin, and the scent of him that wasn’t masked by bleach or soap, like a charge of electricity in the air.
And when he pressed her back against the wall like he had outside the bar that first night, she grinned up at him.
“Charlie Hall,” he whispered into her hair. “There will never be anyone like you.”
“For which we can all be grateful,” she whispered back, regretting wearing the stretchy pants, which were hell to get off.”
― Holly Black, Book of Night

“He turned his hollow gray eyes on her. "I'm angry," he said. "I am still so angry."
Surprised, charlie started to open her mouth and then closed it again.
"Last night, after you fell asleep, I couldn't stop looking at the swell of your cheek. The snarl of your dark hair. The shipped black nail polish on your toes, curled up against whatever dream you were having. The way you pulled loose the bottom sheet with the violence of sleeping. I looked at you and had a feeling so intense that it made me dizzy and a little sick." His gaze was on the silvery grass of the lawn. "It's no good to feel this way."
Charlie's heart hammered. He had never spoken to her like that. She didn't think anyone had spoken to her like that. "Vince?"
"When I saw you tonight - what he'd done, what he was doing, I wanted to kill him. I was furious and I haven't stopped being furious. I don't feel guilty. I wish he was alive so I could kill him again."
Astonishment robbed her of breath. Vince didn't get angry. He didn't talk about his feelings. He didn't sit alone in the dark, talking about shadows and stars.
He turned to her. "Pretend I didn't say any of that. If you can, pretend tonight never happened, Charlie.”
― Holly Black, Book of Night

“She was teetering on the cusp of adulthood. Three-quarters child, one-quarter yearning. Her dreams were confused kaleidoscopes of swanning through the sets of TV shows, drinking cocktails that looked like vodka martinis and tasted like Sprite, wearing lipstick and pumps covered in red craft glitter, and marrying someone who was half pop star and half stuffed animal.”
― Holly Black, Book of Night

“The problem with monsters is that you need to keep them leashed, or they turn on you.”
― Holly Black, Book of Night

“Tell me one thing,” she said. “If you could, would you choose me?”
“Over anything,” he said.
“Okay,” she said finally. “I think this is a bad decision, but I’ve made lots of those.”
This was what he’d learned from being Remy’s shadow: if there was a problem, he was supposed to throw himself at it. He was supposed to let himself get captured so he could try to kill an ancient Blight, was supposed to give up his freedom to make sure the Cabal wouldn’t feel threatened. If there was a difficult emotion, he was the one who was supposed to feel it.
His golden eyelashes caught the light as they swept over his cheek, hiding the smoke of his eyes. “Sometimes there are no good decisions.”
And wasn’t that just the truth.”
― Holly Black, Book of Night